


Mortal Fire

by alittle



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Andrastianism, Chant of Light, F/M, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Rite of Tranquility, Tranquil Inquisitor, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-04-23 02:25:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14322495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittle/pseuds/alittle
Summary: Following the catastrophe at the conclave, a Tranquil emerges from a rift, but she is no longer cut off from the fade. Ebris Trevelyan had chosen Tranquility ten years prior, having been raised devoutly Andrastian and in fear of her own magic. Touched by a spirit of faith she must determine whether to attempt the rite again for her sanity or to reacquaint herself with her magic and use the gifts the Maker seems to think she needs. But in the mean time she struggles with containing her emotions, especially when it comes to the Ex-Templar Cullen Rutherford.





	1. Chapter 1

The Chantry Sun was red and raised against the skin of her brow. It was all he could see as he looked down at the prisoner. Solas was tending to her hand with the mark, marking down notes on its current size and shape.

Cullen squeezed his eyes shut and turned away. He could feel sweat forming on his brow.

“Alert Cassandra as soon as she wakes,” He said sternly to Solas.

“I shall, though I do not know when that may be.”

Cullen gave a curt nod and turned to leave the dungeon. His hands clenched in tight fists at his sides as he made his way up through the chantry. Flashes of memory tore through him with each step, mages begging and crying and pleading for mercy before that white-hot sun brand. The unearthly scream as lyrium met flesh. The hollowness of their eyes after the rite had been completed. The ways so many of his brothers and sisters-at-arms had exploited them after the rite.

He looked up and realized he had walked to his quarters. His hands were shaking and he leaned on the edge of his bed.

 _Why was she at the conclave?_ From what he’d heard, many of the tranquil had been left behind in their circles by mages and templars alike. He too had forgotten their presence almost as soon as he had joined the Inquisition. 

Elsa, Meredith's tranquil assistant, flashed in his mind. Her hollow eyes has always unnerved him.  _Where is she now?_ He wondered.

~

Dark brown eyes fluttered open and the prisoner stirred. As the stone ceiling came into focus, she felt as though a great weight had slammed into her chest, leaving her breathless. Pain, hate, sorrow, fear, and anger flooded through her and tears streamed from her eyes as she lost control of her breaths and began to hyperventilate. Green light arced around the room and she realized it was coming from her, making her panic worse.

An elven man was suddenly by her side and she grasped at his arm, something to ground her. Surely this was some trick of the fade? But how could it be then if she had been severed from the fade years ago?

“Deep breaths now,” he said firmly but kindly, miming inhalation.

She shakily followed along and the man measured her heart rate at her wrist. Just beyond it she saw the mark. Looking at it felt like the afterimage of looking at the sun too long; an intense burning sensation accompanied it.

The man helped her into a sitting position. Tears continued to run down her cheeks unbidden and her hands trembled.

“Here,” he handed her a small clay cup of water. She sipped quietly as he took down some notes.

“What is your name?” he prompted.

“E-… Ebris.”

She noticed his eyes narrow slightly and he scribbled something in his notes.

“I am Solas. Tell me, how are you feeling?”

Her head ached as she tried to parse out names for the things she felt. _She felt._

Looking up at Solas, her eyes full of panic, “I feel… _everything.”_

“You were to notify me when she awoke!” A tall stern woman wish short hair stormed into the cell.

“She only just awoke, if I may have a moment more to-“

“She needs to be interrogated! And you need to be out helping our forces beat back the demons!”

Ebris flinched at the woman’s shouts, spilling her water. She squeezed her eyes shut and felt dread pool in her stomach as she could feel magic coursing through her.

 _No, no please, Andraste it cannot be…_ She opened her eyes to see flames at her fingertips. The argument Solas and stern woman had quieted as they noticed her.

Ebris was still as she looked on in panic at the fire in her hands.

The woman was raising her arm and Ebris could feel the smite coming but Solas pushed her hand away and shouted something before rushing to her side.

“Ebris, I need you to focus on me,” he said as he pulled over a pail of water.

She could barely tear her eyes from the flames, and so he moved in front of her and grasped her wrists gently and submerged her hands in the water. The pail soon started steaming as the magefire in her hands did not cease.

“Look at me, I need you to take deep breaths.”

“Solas it’s not working!” The woman shouted again and raised her hand once more.

“No!”

The smite hit her like a punch in the gut and she went limp, falling back onto the straw bed of the cell.

~

Cullen was studying the war table when he felt it, a pull in his veins. At first he mistook it for a withdrawal symptom but it only grew worse and that was when he recognized it – uncontrolled magic. He raced down the stairs. Down the long hallway to the dungeon could see the orange glow of flames and hear Solas and Cassandra’s shouts. He sprinted and just as he reached the door he felt Cassandra’s smite hit the prisoner.

She fell back onto the straw and tears continued streaming from her eyes, “I’m so sorry… I didn’t… I can’t control… oh maker, why is it back… why did it come back…” she mumbled.

Solas knelt down by the woman’s side and laid a cool rag on her forehead. Cullen could just barely catch his voice as he whispered soothing words.

“What in the maker’s name is going on down here?”

Cassandra stalked the room like a caged tiger, “It seems she is not tranquil after all.”

“Which you would have known if you had stopped for one moment to listen,” Solas said, anger rolling off him in waves.

“You said so yourself that mark may be the only thing able to close those rifts! We need her out-“

“We need her to help us, Seeker! I don’t see how terrifying her with shouting and a smite is going to-”

“I had to dispel that magic! You saw yourself she could not control it, she was a threat to-“

“How do you expect her to recover her control if you do not let her-“

“Enough! At any rate she’ll need to rest to recover from that before she can help us, Cassandra,” Cullen pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on.

Cassandra sighed and left the dungeon, shoulders tense with anger.

“You’re a Templar,” the woman murmured from the floor.

“Former Templar” He corrected.

She shook her head, “You don’t just stop being a Templar. You could help me, you could take this away!”

Cullen felt a chill run through him.

“Ebris, why would you want to go back to that?” Solas asked, his impassive face betraying some sadness.

“I don’t know how to control this, please, I’m dangerous like this!” she stared pleadingly at Cullen.

“I…” he grasped at what to say but instead bolted from the room, rattled and sweating.

After the Templar left, Ebris sighed in defeat. _Foul and corrupt are they who have taken His gift and turned it against His children…_

_Flames licked up the walls, the smell of charred flesh overwhelmed her senses._

_“R-rion?” She could discern a human-shaped lump among the flames, “Rion!”_

Ebris clenched her fists tightly, trying to shake off the memory. She focused on the sharp feeling of her nails digging into the skin on her palms.

Cassandra’s Silence still lingered on Ebris’ skin, but she could sense it fading with every second her mana regenerated.

“Ebris,” Solas murmured, “Try and get some rest, you will still be weak from the Silence for some hours.”

Memories flashed in her mind; green fog, an outstretched hand, _the fade_. She grabbed the bucket of still-hot water and began dry-heaving over it.

Solas grabbed a piece of spindleweed stem from a pouch of herbs and offered it to her, “Chew this, it will help.”

She eagerly took it and felt her stomach settling though she started to shiver, “I cannot go back there,” she whispered.

 _I have never seen a mage so terrified of the fade…_ Solas thought, anger and sadness swelling in his chest. His eyes softened, “I will keep watch over you.”

The words did not seem to assure her, but soon she fell asleep amongst the straw from sheer exhaustion.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a fitful sleep.

First she saw her childhood bedroom, panic filled her and she was jerked awake before the dream could continue. She saw Solas sitting beside her, still writing away in his notebook.

The next dream was the knight commander’s office at Ostwick, a dark shape wearing Templar armor was walking towards her, but another shadow intercepted it and the two shadows walked away from her.

When she woke herself the second time she saw that Solas was asleep against the wall next to her.

Seeker Cassandra was standing with the guards by the door, and as Ebris sat up she felt the woman’s eyes on her.

“You’re awake, good,” Cassandra said, walking over, “I apologize for Silencing you, but I must take precautions, given the circumstances.”  
Ebris looked at her hands, “You are right to be cautious, Seeker. Thank you for stepping in when you did.”

Cassandra felt her stomach twist in guilt. She had never heard a mage thank her for Silencing them.

“What do you remember of the conclave? How is it a tranquil such as yourself walked out of a rip in the fade, cured?” Cassandra asked.

Ebris closed her eyes and rubbed her temple, “I was… I was brought along with another mage, Silas. He told me to listen in on as much as I could, as most mages and templars don’t even acknowledge Tranquil in the room with them.”  
Solas awoke next to her, but she continued.

“Then there’s a gap. A bright light, brighter than anything I’ve ever seen. I heard a voice, as she grabbed my hand, she said…” Ebris looked at her left hand, the mark flickering, “She said I would be alright, if I had faith.”

Ebris didn’t realize she was crying til the tears landed on her hand. Her breath was shaky, but her chest ached with warmth she had not felt in years.

Cassandra’s brows were high on her forehead, and she spoke tentatively, “The soldiers who found you… They said that when you walked out of the fade, there was a woman behind you.”

“The explosion at the conclave seems to have thrown you physically into the fade. Perhaps simply being there was what reestablished your connection to it?” Solas said.

Ebris sighed, “Andraste has a strange sense of humor, giving magic back to a voluntary tranquil.”

Her hand went to her forehead, feeling the raised scar tissue of the sunburst brand.

“This will have to be a discussion for another time. We need to bring you to the breach,” Cassandra said.

Ebris looked to Solas, worried.

“I’m afraid she’s right, the breach is our most pressing matter, and that mark may be the only weapon we have against it.”

“Very well,” Ebris said, accompanying them towards the entrance to the chantry.

Solas ran ahead to meet others at the closest rift, while Cassandra and Ebris took a slightly more roundabout route to avoid the demons in the area. Nevertheless, they managed to run into a handful of minor sloth demons and dreamers along the way. While Cassandra took the lead, sword swinging with years of practice, Ebris hung behind, trying to stay out of the way and not be noticed.

However with a sudden groan, a sloth demon snuck upon her.

“Cassandra!” Ebris shouted as she stumbled backwards.

She acted on instinct, trying to simply shove the demon away from her as it took a swing. As her hands touched it, it erupted in flames and was blown back nearly ten feet. Ebris froze, eyes wide. She hadn’t even attempted to pull magic to her but there it was again, flowing out of her like a spring. The pride at seeing the demon fall was overshadowed by tremors of fear as she felt her mana tingling just under her skin.

 _Why?_ She thought, _Why did she bring it back?_

After making sure Ebris hadn’t been physically harmed in the attack, Cassandra passed her a staff she’d found among rubble.

Ebris looked between the leather grip and the woman in front of her with wide eyes, “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I cannot be there to defend you at every moment. You managed well enough with that demon, this will help you channel better,” Cassandra said, her commanding voice soothing Ebris ever so slightly.

They walked in silence a ways before Cassandra spoke up again, “You do remember how to use a staff, at least?”

“ _Extend your mana through the staff, wield it as a lens to focus your connection to the fade,”_ Ebris quoted, “I sat in on many lessons, even after… Enchanter Lydia always said that to the young mages just starting out with their staves.”

“And yourself? Before, were you proficient in wielding it?” Cassandra prompted.

Ebris’ chest tightened as anxiety washed over her, “I was passable… I knew the motions but I hesitated too much.”

“That didn’t look much like hesitation to me.”

Red flooded Ebris’ cheeks, “It was an accident…” her fists clenched tightly around the staff.

_“It was an accident!”_

_“Shut up, maleficar!”_

_Stinging pain, a blow from a gauntleted hand..._

_Foul and corrupt are you / Who have taken My gift / And turned it against My children._

“Ebris?” Cassandra placed her hand on the mage’s shoulder, but she flinched away.  
“Sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful!” Ebris replied, continuing ahead.

By the time they neared a rift, Cassandra had done the bulk of the fighting while Ebris hung back.

The green glow of the rift seemed to sap the color of everything around it. Ebris could feel the fade pulling on every inch of her body, drawing her mana so close to the surface she could almost taste it in on her tongue.

“Ebris! Quickly!” Solas rushed to her and pulled her marked hand forward.

“Solas, what are-” The breath was pulled from her as the mark and rift made contact. Mana rushed through her and she felt like she was a rock amidst the rapids of a river.

She braced herself and pulled away from the rift, only to fall backwards as it slammed shut.

Solas caught her by the wrist and steadied her.

Ebris rubbed her forhead, “I think I’m going to be sick…”

“Well that’s an entrance if ever I saw one.”

“Ebris, this is-”

“Varric Tethras, at your service,” he gave a bow and a wry smile.

“The author?”

His smile widened, “Always wonderful to meet a fan!”

“Sorry, no, I haven’t read your works, Mr. Tethras. The Tale of the Champion was on the banned book list at my circle,” Ebris grimaced.

Cassandra let out a chuckle poorly disguised as a cough.

Varric shot her a look before turning back to Ebris, “No accounting for bad taste, I guess. I’ll be sure to get you a copy, as soon as we get off this demon-infested mountain!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey wow look at this a new chapter who'd've thunk  
> y'all can thank this polar vortex

**Author's Note:**

> Longtime lurker, first time poster! Been kicking this idea around for over a year, figured I should get some of what I have out here. No idea how often this will update sorry.


End file.
